Dark Tides: A Devon Murder Mystery (Detective Jacob Knox Thriller Book 2) by Freya Wallace

Author:Freya Wallace [Wallace, Freya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hamya Press
Published: 2025-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

21

Shadows stretched across the nave of St Joseph’s in the afternoon light, stained glass windows casting fragments of coloured light on the stone floor. Knox had called ahead after reading the notes Michael had left on Mia Dwyer. He didn’t know how they related to the investigation but wanted to discover what Isobel Croft knew before taking things further.

He found her in the small room behind the vestry where she’d agreed to meet him, surrounded by filing cabinets and notice boards covered with community announcements and support group schedules.

Isobel still looked tired but there was a purposefulness to her movements that hadn’t been there before. Perhaps having something concrete to do was giving her a way to channel her sorrow.

‘DI Knox,’ she said, standing as he entered. ‘I’ve pulled together everything I could find about the counselling sessions. Both the addiction support groups and the grief counselling we ran.’

Knox sat in the chair across from her, noting the careful way she’d organised the files. ‘You and your husband both ran these sessions?’

‘We were qualified counsellors before Michael took holy orders. We felt it was important to offer professional support alongside spiritual guidance.’ Isobel’s voice was steady, but Knox heard the pain beneath it. ‘The addiction support group met every Tuesday evening. Michael usually led it, but I attended most sessions.’

‘And you did private sessions as well?’

‘Yes, when requested. I had more time for them than Michael, but he had a few regulars.’

‘Mia Dwyer?’

Something flickered across Isobel’s face, a complex mix of sadness and frustration. ‘Yes, Michael was Mia’s counsellor before… It was all so sad. Michael took her death very badly as you can expect.’

‘Did he have any idea what she planned?’

‘Mia was very complicated. Addiction changes people, makes them capable of things they’d never normally do. We never discussed Mia’s private sessions, but it definitely came as a shock to him that she’d taken her own life.’

‘What was she like?’

Isobel sighed. ‘Changeable. She could be manipulative when she needed drugs. Charming one moment, desperate the next. She had an edge to her, a hardness that came from surviving things most people couldn’t imagine.’ Isobel paused, choosing her words carefully. ‘But underneath all that, she was genuinely trying to get clean. The sessions seemed to help her.’

Knox sensed there was more. ‘Did you speak to her outside the group sessions?’

Isobel hesitated. ‘Sometimes. She would stay after the others left, wanted to talk privately. Michael was always busy so sometimes we would chat.’

‘What did she talk about?’

‘Her childhood, mostly. The things that had led her to drugs in the first place.’

Knox had read in the file that Mia had been abused by a family member, unnamed in the file, when she’d been a child. Reading that, he’d been ready to go straight to the Dwyer household but he needed more information first. Needed to know if Isobel knew about the abuse. If she was going to tell him, now was the time.

Isobel’s voice grew quieter. She looked at Knox, eyebrows furrowed as if she was deciding what to share.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.